police say that win gunman may have been shot and possibly killed. at least one other gunman is still on the loose. >> i hear this pop, pop, pop. >> i thought it was just firecrackers going off. >> i thought it was dynamite -- construction rather than anything else. >> i look across the street and there's a man with a rifle shooting at a bunch of people. >> also, multiple buildings in ottawa, including the u.s. embassy, remain on lockdown at this hour. after multiple gunmen, potentially, opened fire late this morning at the canadian national war memorial, followed by more shots fired at the nearby parliament building. we also know president obama has been briefed and he just spoke with canadian prime minister stephen harper, or he will speak with him shortly. and u.s. military officials have told nbc news the north american aerospace defense command, norad, has gone on high-alert posture. this dramatic video shot by a

reporter, you can see police officers walking slowly through parliament with weapons drawn. then you hear shots ring out inside the building. right now members of parliament are still holed up inside their offices. joining us now on the phone is justin lang, a freelance journalist live tweeting from inside parliament. justin, tell us about the experience, what you saw and heard while you were inside of parliament today. >> i'm actually still in parliament. i won't say where i am because we don't know if there's an active shoot other loose. i can tell you that i am somewhere in centre block where the shooting took place. this morning i was coming into my office on the third floor of parliament and it connects to a hallway that overlooks the hall of honor, which is where we believe the suspect was shot and killed. i took a different route and subsequently ended up in a different part of the building. but i was -- i was heading back down to my office, i had a -- i had a member of parliament come up to me and say there was an

active shoot other loose and i should barricade myself somewhere. i went back across the hall to the room i was in. there was about two dozen people waiting. and i told them what had happened. you can kind of hear them behind me, getting a bit of cabin fever, as we're all still on lockdown. from there we basically waited in the room for some time until security guard came in and told us, indeed, there was an active shooter in the building. they believed he was in the building. we then kind of barricaded ourselves in the back of the room. and we did hear at some point what sounded like gunshots in the stairwell, the fire exit behind us. we're not sure if those are gunshots but a series of very loud bangs, five or six in a row. there was some belief it was gunshots. >> very harrowing. hang on for a second, because i want to bring in by phone mark from the canadian police. are we talking now about potentially one or more than one gunman? >> well, with the limited

information we have, we -- we're not sure how many suspects. we're still actively looking. >> there was some erroneous information earlier that was reported on a lot of news outlets that there was an additional location near a mall. is that now not a part of this investigation? >> yes, contrary to earlier reports, there was no incident near the rideau centre, the mall. >> we were talking to a journalist who's still on lockdown inside parliament. any idea how long parliament will remain on lockdown? >> well, it's going to remain on lockdown as long as we're still actively searching. until we exhaust all avenues or all leads. the downtown core will remain in lockdown. >> are the ottawa police still cautioning people, i assume, to stay away from downtown? >> oh, yes, we are. >> thank you very much, mark from the ottawa police. really appreciate it. >> you're welcome.

>> justin, i don't know if you were able to hear that. there's not real clarity on how many gunmen potentially we're talking about. and sort of an indefinite lockdown for you. and you've been live tweeting this. just tell me, are you with other people or are you somewhere on your own? >> no. there's about two dozen of us in this room. we're looking at the tv, trying to keep abrust of what's happening. a lot of us are using twitter because twitter is prevalent among staff, the reporters here. we're keeping our eyes on the phone to see what the latest updates are. we're not surprised the lockdown will be ongoing for a little while. we were told the lockdown would be lifted once the building has been cleared. that hasn't happened yet. we haven't seen any s.w.a.t. teams or police officers on our floor in the last several hours. we don't believe that will be any time soon. until that happens, we're all bunkering down here. >> all right. justin ling, stay safe. i appreciate you being on with us.

>> thanks. >> let's bring in nbc's pete williams live from washington, d.c. pete, what do u.s. authorities know at this point? >> reporter: not much. canadian officials have their hands full, so we're not really going on what u.s. officials are saying. we're learning a lot more from the canadians. it appears from this statement the police have put out that two people were killed today. one is the reserve soldier at the military memorial. but the second is the gunman inside parliament. they do say one male suspect has been confirmed deceased. so, we're still waiting on word, as you were just trying to get it there from the police, about whether, in fact, there was more than one person with a gun. there are many people who thought they saw that. and the canadian police have to assume that that could be true. that's why they're doing what they're doing. here in the u.s., joy, we've not heard any signs or any statements or any indication that security is being changed.

no visible security change at our version of the parliament building in ottawa, at the u.s. capitol building or the white house. not much changed at the canadian consulate here in washington. just the procedure of how you get in the door. not in lockdown. no change in terms of u.s. military. and the last word, the department of homeland security wasn't going to change anything. and i think it's important, just to remind everyone here, that in the last several years the department of homeland security, as it got away from the color-coded threat system, now doesn't raise the terror alert level here unless there is specific credible intelligence of an attack in the u.s. so, it wouldn't be their style, it wouldn't be their normal operating procedure just out of an abundance of caution because

something happened in a neighboring country to raise the terror alert level or change the posture of things here in this country. nonetheless, it's important to note that the canadian officials have been on a heightened state of alert there for the last several weeks in response to a growing amount of intelligence about people in isis wanting to carry out attacks in canada against both u.s. and canadian targets in canada. >> pete, there were -- >> we don't yet know who was behind the attack today, joy. >> as we continue, as we wait for the news conference to begin in ottawa. pete, there was a previous incident in canada, correct, that involved somebody they thought had islamic extremist leanings, recent convert to islam, who hit a couple of officials with his car, killed one. what do we know about that? and is that -- well, i mean, we don't know if that's related. that happened recently, correct? >> two days ago, near montreal. a man parked his car in a parking lot outside a military recruiting building, a building that had a lot of other facilities, including military ones, sat in the parking lot for

two hours until one man in uniform came out with another, who was not in uniform. he rammed his car into them. one was killed. one was injured. the man drove away. his car flipped over. he got out. had a knife and was shot dead by canadian police. >> all right. thanks for those updates, pete williams, appreciate it. >> you bet. >> anthony roman is a security expert, jim cavanaugh, i want to bring both in while we wait for that news conference. tony, nltsot a lot of informati. one male suspect. they're keeping the capital on lockdown, essentially, indefinitely. there's really no way the one suspect is now deceased, how do you even proceed in trying to figure out if this was a conspiracy or just a lone wolf? >> what they're going to do is review all of the security cameras in the area and all of the videos, try and find eyewitnesss who may have filmed anything. that would be done by the investigators working outside of

the perimeter and in the perimeter at this time. but the priority is to clear the parliament building, to make sure there are no other shooters there. >> there are eyewitness accounts and tony and i were talking earlier in the break before we came on, that's not necessarily so reliable because someone can see the same person twice and think they saw two people. it's not unusual -- or is it unusual for it to be unclear whether you're talking about one person or more than one person? >> i've never been to one of these active shooter situations where you didn't get reports of multiple gunmen. you always get reports of multiple gunmen, even if there's one shooter. so, that has to be sort of flushed out. and each witness has to be looked at and what they say they saw. like anthony said, review the videotape. but what investigators need to do quickly in these cases is to go to the deceased person and obtain any identification papers on them. sometimes they could have a suicide note, they could have their wallet, they could have

all kinds of things carried in their pockets. necessity have a firearm that can be traced. and there's a car apparently left outside the parliament building that can be tracked for registration and so forth. you want to find out who the person is, this deceased shooter, and who are his associates and track back quickly from that. it remains to be seen, like pete said, joy, you know, if there's a second shooter. there is a lot of reports of that, but sometimes that's police -- seeing a policeman with a gun or something else. so, if it's multiple shooters, it raises the bar a little bit of, you know, not necessarily a mad man who had a grudge against the government and it could fall into, you know, a lot of these warning signs, which you can't confirm it, you can't say it for sure, but tipping a little bit more toward internationally inspired terrorist act with the canadian military engaged in the middle east in the last few days, with the threats from overseas, with the runover of the canadian soldier. all these things add up to make that a top priority for investigators to look at.

>> right. we see the setup continuing of that press conference. i'm assuming because canada has been on high alert and there has been some chatter, also they would be monitoring social media for anybody that might be talking about this or sort of taking responsibility. is that part of the investigative process now or after they clear the immediate situation? >> well, different units of the rymp, royal canadian mounted police, are important for protecting the prime minister and other senior members of parliament. the tactical units are there to clear the building and to ensure that there are no other shooters. then you have the regular police officers who would cordon off the perimeter and watch that. with this situation with isis, whenever you have the united states, canada and some of the western allies attacking in force a terror group like isis, you can expect that there will be some homegrown terrorist

sympathy for that. that has to be investigated. and social media is one of those elements. and as jim point out, of course, searching the body for evidence, looking for forensic evidence, tracing the rifles. all of that is part and parcel of this. >> jim, the person, am i wrong, does not even necessarily have to be in coordination with anyone. it could just, as tony said, somebody with that sympathy and still be acting on their own, no? >> no, exactly, joy. i mean, it could be somebody who's internationally inspired, we call it, internationally inspired, even radicalized even over the web if the mode was terrorism. but, you know, when you look at motive, you also look at the targeting. who is the person trying to kill? if we look in recent history, the people that have been trying to kill soldiers, and we can take that back to ft. hood, internationally inspired terrorism. we can go to london with the

machete attacks on the london soldiers, carlos bledsoe from ten fen who shot the he recruiting station, the soldier run over by -- just the other day in canada. so who's targeting those people are internationally inspired terrorist groups. not so much just made men or or people with a grudge against the government. so, he attacked a soldier first and then he went to the government building, the parliament. targeting is important to consider when you're trying to deduce what the motive of the shooter is. >> that's interesting, because we've had homegrown terrorism that had nothing to do with international sort of inspiration, you talk about the timothy mcveigh incident, targeting the federal government. so is that part of it, looking at the target and walking backwards to figure out potentially what the ties might number. >> well, homegrown terrorists, criminals all follow a pattern -- we call it modus

operendi. what telltale signs do they leave behind and what are the elements they leave behind in each terror attack or crime. jim is absolutely right. for the last several years there has been a preponderance of repeated attacks against soldiers. and in the london case in which the soldier was terribly, terribly attacked, first hit by a vehicle and then fundamenta y fundamentally, you know, butchered, this may follow that kind of pattern since we saw canadian police and soldiers injured in the same kind of way. someone exiting with a knife. so, it does follow the same m.o., as we call it. >> of course, this is -- you have prime minister of canada looking to speak with -- oh, the press conference is beginning. let's pause and take a listen as they prepare to get started. i don't think they're seated quite yet. i wonder if i have time to ask

jim. the united states obviously monitoring this very closely because we're leading those attacks against isis. what kind of security measures would be going into a place on our side of the border, very briefly? >> well, you know, pete said they haven't ramped up anything, but i can tell you the mental state of all our police, facilities, police and security officers are up on this. whether or not they've been ordered to change, mentally they know what's going on here. they watch the news and they're more mentally acute today than yesterday. they're constantly on guard. that's what happens. i've been on these security details. naets what happens to you. you know what's going on, so you pay attention. >> indeed. let's listen in to this press conference, now that everybody has found their seats and listen to the update out of canada. >> remains ongoing. please be mindful due to the ongoing situation and investigation, there will be many answers that we will not be able to answer at this time. i'd first like to acknowledge the presence of ottawa police

chief charles bordelou, commanding officer of rcmp, to his right major general christopher coates, deputy commander of joint operations command, and finally to my far right, mayor of ottawa, jim watson. in terms of proceeding with the press conference, we will first have a statement by ottawa police chief charl. >> at 9:52 a.m., the ottawa politician service received multiple 911 calls regarding a shootinging at national war memorial. the victim of the shooting is a member of the canadian armed forces. his injuries were fatal. our thoughts and prayers are with the member, his loved ones and other members of the forces. his identity and age won't be confirmed at this time as we are

in the process of contacting his family. what followed was another incident on parliament hill. what i can tell you is that a male suspect is now deceased. together with the rcmp, all available resources have been deployed to this ongoing police operation. our priority is the safety and security of our community. additional resources are on standby should they be required. all measures have been taken to ensure the safety and security of our residents. we are very aware of the large presence of military personnel in our community and i want them to know that we are committed to their safety. as i said, this is an ongoing operation. we are asking members of the public to stay away from the downtown core. people in the downtown core are asked to follow the instructions of their building's management. the ottawa police service is looking for witnesses to come forward with information regarding the incident that took place this morning.

witnesses can contact our major crime section, 613-236-1222, extension 5493. and the rcmp set up an e-mail address for public tips. we continue to communicate and work actively with our partners, including those in neighborhood jurisdictions. [ speaking french ]

[ speaking french ] >> so, we're listened to royal canadian mounted police, they're doing it in french because they're a dual nation. they talked about condolences to the one deceased. it's an active situation. they're actively investigating. jim cavanaugh and anthony roman are still with me. let's talk about the response. we still have people locked down. why not escort the people who are currently on lockdown out of parliament and just empty -- empty the building? >> the priority right now is to search for the shooter and to protect as many residents of parliament and members of parliament and their staff as possible. we don't need a lot of civilians

right now in the hallways where units of police are coordinating can mistake one for the shooter and we have a terrible tragedy, or perhaps the shooter blend in with the crowd and escape in that matter. in the kenyan mall attack we are regrettably units of the police that were shot by the security -- >> because they were in plain clothes. >> absolutely. >> let's dip back in and listen. i think it's gone back to english. >> this is a dynamic and unfolding situation. i understand that people have many questions. and we are committed to providing some answers as soon as we are able. what i can tell you right now is that all available and necessary resources were activated and deployed immediately when we became aware of the incident. they will continue to be here for as long as they're needed. the ottawa police service is leading the investigation for

all incidents that have taken place outside parliament hill. the rcmp conducting the investigation on parliament hill. these are situations we ask police officers to train for. we train our own members and we train with other police agencies. we conduct scenario-based training to cover all kinds of threats, including what we've seen in ottawa today. it's important for all canadians to be vigilant and report anything they think is suspicious to their local police so it can be assessed and followed up on. we are continually assessing and monitoring the situation as we move forward and sharing information with law enforcement and security community in order to ensure we have what is necessary to do our jobs and keeping ka nadz yans safe. [ speaking french ]

>> as we go back to french in that press conference, we're going to come back here and talk a little more with our panel. i want to go quickly to jim cavanaugh. there was about two weeks ago a joint intelligence bulletin circulated among law enforcement that warned about the potential for isis/isil u.s.-based sympathizers to carry out attacks here, according to the reporting. and our attacks on isis/isil in syria could inspire those kind of attacks. given that, we are now seeing this happen in canada, but i assume, jim, the same kind of vigilance you just heard them talking about there in canada is happening here? >> it's got to be, joy. it always was. when we got reports like that, we would all share it with each other across law enforcement. you know, what status do we need to take? it may be invisible to the public but law enforcement officers are aware of it, military's aware of it. certainly, you should always listen to these guys. if you go back to al qaeda, they

told us, they declared war on us in the mid-90s. we weren't listening very well. maybe our intelligence agencies were, but across the board, the country wasn't listening. and what they do, they tell you what they're going to do and then they go do it. it's not unusual as these warnings came to canada, we're going to attack, low-grade attacks like pete williams talked about with firearms and knives. you disregard those and do it to your own peril. >> very available in english, a message of 2.6 muslims in the united states, this is how to respond to obama's war. open threats being made as a result of what we're doing there. some indication of what we're doing there might be more effective than they thought it was and they're feeling the pinch. you know those threats are out there, tony, but we have open access to our government. you have the ability to go in and visit congress and the white house.

where do you find that balance between trying to secure those bases and. >> in the west we've seen a moving benchmark of security relative to protecting the perimeter of the white house, the perimeter of congress, parliament and some of the government houses in western europe. fundamentally, there should be a but buffer zone between civilian population with access points so they can be screened prior to reaching the buildings and -- >> we just saw that fail in the white house very misserably. >> we are working with our law enforcement partners in response to this ongoing situation. as a precautionary measure until such time as the situation is considered under control, military and civilian personnel working in the ncr have been told to remain in their buildings until further notice. individuals with necessary credentials are being provided

access. canadian armed forces bases and establishments are currently taking precautions appropriate to their environments, to ensure the safety and security of personnel and infrastructure. >> thank you. mayor of ottawa, jim watson. >> thank you. today is a sad and tragic day for our city and our country. and i'm sure i speak for all residents of our city which i extend my heartfelt condolences to the family of the individual who lost his life this morning while standing guard at the national war memorial in the heart of downtown ottawa. i also want to convey to those who were injured today, the thoughts of your city and the neighbors are with you. [ speaking french ] >> there's no pain greater than losing a loved one. to have it happen in such circumstances as this morning is beyond expression and underlined

with a sad anger in my heart but i will not let that anger rule the day. our city, ottawa, the capital of our country, has seen and lived through tragedy in the past. we're doing so again today. a different sort of tragedy, not yet fully known. causes not yet fully understood. we all want answers, none more so than me. those answers will come from our dedicated policing forces, the rcmp, ottawa police services and, no doubt, other forces as we construct this tragic course of events. today i urge all my fellow residents to think of the individuals standing on guard this morning at the national war memorial. remember how that -- that one person's life has been taken from us, from family, from friends, from the future that was to be his. [ speaking french ] i want to thank the brave men and women, our first responders,

rcmp, house of common security, police, paramedics for their compassion, professionalism and dedication. thank you. >> thank you. that concludes the first part of the press conference. we will now be taking some questions. i ask you please identify where you're from and who your question is directed to. sectly, please be mindful there's a lot of questions that cannot be answered at this time. [ speaking french ] [ speaking french ]

>> just hang on a s.e.econd. one question at a time, please. >> reporter: what warning, if any, did law enforcement or national security agencies pick up about the possibility of this incident, or did it take everybody by surprise? >> i think it's still too early to confirm that, but i think that from our reaction, i think it caught us by surprise. >> reporter: how is that possible? >> again, it's too early to get to the bottom of all the details of what transpired. it's an ongoing police operation. and up until we've had a better chance to investigate and determine exactly what happened, it's too soon to answer that question. >> thank you, ma'am. >> reporter: global news. you're telling the public to be vigilant. are there still suspects out there? you said there was more than one suspect earlier. so, is there still someone on the loose?

>> we're still investigating the operation. we're in the process with the rcmp with clearing and securing parliament hill. that's a slow and methodical approach. we're asking the community to continue to be aware, remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity they deem serious that could impact their safety. so, to phone 911 or to phone or e-mail us with any information that will assist in the investigation. but also in general terms, we've been asking the community to remain vigilant over potential l acts we've seen overseas and other countries. that's something we've always asked canadians to be aware of, be vigilant and report any suspicious activity that may identity any individual that may want to cause harm to canadians. we're in the act of an operation right now. we're treating this very seriously now with the rcmp in clearing parliament hill to

render it safe. >> reporter: was the suspect who was killed this morning, was he one of the 19 people identified as being radicalized? >> again, this is too early to be able to determine that. >> reporter: as a follow-up. either speaking with or putting those people under surveillance -- [ inaudible ] >> we draw all of our resources toward any threat that exists and actively investigate those individuals. >> sir, you're behind the camera, please. [ speaking french ] >> so, you've been listening to a press conference by four

people. charles bordeauleux, gill mouchand for royal canadian mounted police, jason coates, continental police, and jim watson, the mayor of ottawa, where this shooting took place. tony, let's go back and talk about the question that was being asked in the press conference multiple times. why is it, after so many hours, is it still not clear whether it was one shooter or multiple shooters? >> the tactical approach by the s.w.a.t. teams to clear parliament hill is an extraordinary task. first, it's a massive complex with a series of buildings. they have to search every room, identify each and every parliament member, assistant and visitor who's on site. clear the rooms. not only the rooms but clear the air vents, clear hidden areas, clear storage closets. so, it's a methodical,

methodical process that may go on well into tomorrow. >> jim, one of the dangers, apparently, would be that if forces go in, if somebody's motivated to attack law enforcement or motivated to attack soldiers, then you could be putting mortar gets if, indeed, there is someone laying in wait, is that the case? >> that's right. what the person could be doing, if they exist, is waiting for that response from the tactical team so they can engage them in, you know, a suicidal frenzy, so to speak. they can hide. that's why when you see a s.w.a.t. commander, tactical commander say they've cleared it, like tony was describing, when they clear it, as they inch forward, there's nothing behind them. they clear the closets. they clear the crawl spaces. they don't want to let anybody flank them. and it takes -- it's very methodical to clear a building because you can't let anybody get behind you, so they do that very carefully. they'll be slow about it. the good news is if you're in there, locked down, the police

have control of the building. just stay put. and they'll come and get you, you know. it will take some hours, but you should be safe. >> indeed. let me bring in -- hold on, guys, i want to bring in bassy, a correspondent. there were warnings and potential chatter about danger in ottawa. were those public warnings? were those things as a parliamentary reporter something that was public or just something that may not have been known beforehand? >> that's a great question. we actually broke the story yesterday. it was not public. i was actually leaked a terror threat chain document as of last friday. basically, our national security agency here increased the threat level for the first time in four years for canada. basically, the difference in that threat level was it went from someone being capable or having the intent to attack on canadian soil to being cable and

having the intent to attack. so, the threat level increased. it's not like the u.s. where that kind of thing is public. the government confirmed it late yesterday, though. they said that it wasn't due to a specific threat. rather, an increase in general chatter from radical islamic organizations. but, clearly, you know, a bit of a precursor to what happened today. >> vassy, talk a little about this area, this parliament area and the war memorial. how open is the access to the parliament buildings? >> well, i'm standing actually not far from this right now. it's extremely open. i can tell you i'm a political reporter here. i work in a building that overlooks that war memorial. it's a completely public spot. my colleagues, a few of them, witnessed what happened within, you know, a minute. i ran downstairs, i came outside. many members of the public -- it was just before 10 a.m. it's a busy business district. many members of the public were here. immediately a number of witnesses went and started performing cpr on the victim who has since passed away.

and, you know, a number of witnesses saw one suspect run away and head towards parliament hill, which i can tell you is not even a five-minute walk from the war memorial. so he ran into parliament hill. we knew at that point things were about to escalate even further. >> obviously, eyewitness accounts are what they are, but as trained observerobservers, d witness more than one person, your colleagues? >> no, my colleagues witnessed one person. >> one person. >> yeah. some defense sources i've been speaking to here say that, you know, it's suspected this could have been some kind of coordinated attack, or while there might have been only one person at the war memorial location, there could have been others elsewhere. that's what they're looking for now. we don't know a specific number of suspects other than the one that's already been killed. >> thank you very much. let's go back to that press conference and we'll listen in now. >> again, that's way too early to be able to determine a motive. >> last question, please, behind

the camera. [ speaking french ] [ speaking french ] >> thank you very much. this concludes the press conference. >> all right. we have just wrapped up listening to that press conference, which was by the ottawa police chief, members of the -- leaders of the royal canadian mounted police as well as the mayor of ottawa on that shooting earlier today. we know of one suspect dead, one person also dead in that shooting. and i want to keep our panel here. i'm going to come back quickly to anthony romano. we were talking about in an open society like this, where you do

have vulnerable targets and where we are actively fighting a group like isis/isil in their own turf and where they can't get to us militarily, this is really sort of the new kind of threat that we face, right? this is what we need to be prepared for. >> as jim cavanaugh was saying, as i was driving into the studio this afternoon, we are in a new world war. it's a different world war. but no question that we have to be prepared for all types of surprise attacks at home. and i'm concerned about our level of preparedness, particularly in the civil area, the malls, the schools, places of public gathering. i really believe that we're still at considerable risk. although it's much better than it was at 9/11. i think there's a lot more that can be done. >> and it's interesting, jim, because we've had you on about people's feeling in a sense of being overpoliced in a lot of ways in this country, but what anthony is stalking about is

sort of overpolicing on the one hand, but at the same time there is a sense that people are not expecting something like this to ever happen, quote/unquote, to them. >> right, exactly, joy. policing has a lot of facets to it. there's a lot of things that go on in. as tony brings up, as i said earlier, this sort of low order world war is a new phenomenon. where the world has changed, the digital age and people can be recruited worldwide electronically. this war is different than past wars. but it is a low order world war. it has guerrilla-type tactics. it happens in countries across the world. europe, australia, england, canada, the united states. that's what's going on. for us to deny that ourselves makes us, you know, suffer for it. and also we've got to realize is these acts inspire other acts. so, you have a soldier who was run over just the other day in

canada. if this turns out to be an internationally inspired or terrorist attack, the action is inspired again. now, if that turns out to be the case, all the police forces and force protection and secret service and capitol police and everybody across canada and the united states has to be really sharp because other actors who might have been on the edge of wanting to do something, can be inspired by these acts. and then spur them to action. so, it's not so much, you know, a notice from homeland security, we have no credible information. you know, if i saw one of those in my career, i saw a thousand. no credible information. well, you don't have to have credible information for one or two inspired actors to go out, pick up rifles and start shooting. >> indeed. everybody stay with us. our breaking news coverage will continue next with a look at how the white house is responding to the developments in ottawa.

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your loved one deserves care that's nothing less than extraordinary because they've earned it. for a complimentary in-home assessment, call brightstar care today at 866-621-0228 officials inside the u.s. government have been in close touch with their canadian counterpartsz today to offer assistance. that includes officials here in the white house. >> that was white house press secretary josh earnest about an hour ago. president obama spoke with canadian prime minister stephen harper last hour. the president has been briefed on the situation in ottawa by his top homeland security adviser. nbc's kristin welker is following developments at the white house. what do we know -- >> reporter: the white house is monitoring the situation quite

closely. as you mentioned, president obama did speak with prime minister harper. we're anticipating a readout of that conversation later on today. for now, white house officials stressing the very close relationship between the united states and canada and saying they're in close contact with their canadian counterparts. in terms of the security here at the white house, i'm told there is no change. the secret service is aware of the situation. they're monitoring the situation quite closely. we do know that norad is on heightened alert, also the u.s. embassy in canada in ottawa is on lockdown. but in terms of the security situation here, there has not been any change at this point in time. now, president obama, as you mentioned, was briefed earlier today by his homeland secure adviser lisa monaco. he'll continue to get briefings throughout the day, including by his national security adviser, susan rice. now, he was scheduled to have a meeting with his so-called ebola czar, ron klain. that's set for 3:00 this afternoon. prior to this shooting, joy, we expected to hear some brief

comments from president obama at the conclusion of that meeting, so i wouldn't be surprised if we heard some comments from president obama about this shooting. we will, of course, continue to monitor that and try to get the very latest from that phone conversation that he did have with prime minister harper. the white house certainly monitoring this situation quite closely, as we have been reporting throughout the day. canada recently joined the united states in the fight against isis, but u.s. officials are stressing at this point in time, it's just too early to know what the motive of this shooting is. joy? >> kristin welker, thanks very much. as kristin just reported, norad is beefing up its security and the agency now says it's moved to high alert posture. no aircraft have been scrambled yet but officials say they're ready if that should be needed. nbc's mick -- >> initially appeared to be some terrorist operation. we're told that norad fighter

jets were put at a higher state of alert just in case. after all, could it be a coordinated attack? could there be terrorist in a private plane or even a hijacked aircraft? but they emphasized, they're only on alert. they have not been put into the air. but they would be ready to respond to any aviation-related threat. that's the only way norad would get involved in this operation. >> thank you very much. more after the break as we continue our breaking news. >> there was a guy with a rifle just around on the back corner and just, pow, pow. and then i saw one of the other armed forces guys just running. the other guy just dropped. and then the other one just -- i just started running at that tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] your love for trading never stops,

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. heard first shot, took a lot over. second shot and i realized what was going on, so i kind of took a -- you know, took cover. >> that was a witness explaining the frightening moments this morning when a one suspect, who is now, we understand, dead, killed one member of the canadian military. the parliament in canada, in ottawa, its capitol is still on lockdown. there's an active investigation under way and people are asked to stay out of the area. u.s. homeland security says there's no threat here in the united states but they're monitoring the situation. senior terrorism analyst. we were talking in the break. the break ought to be its own show. you were giving interesting information about a threat directly made to canadian citizens. what was that about? >> yesterday, after the ramming of the two soldiers by a radical in canada, that action was heavily celebrated by a number of canadian isis fighters. one of them, as a matter of

fact, tweeted his celebratory tweets and actually incited attacks -- incited others in canada to follow suit, to be copycats, essentially. we obviously don't know if this is a coordinated terrorist attack, whether inspired or on behalf of isis. but it appears to be coordinated, nonetheless, having had -- taking place in three different places at the same time, 24 hours after ramming the two soldiers. >> it doesn't necessarily even have to be coordinated by a large group. we were talking earlier with jim cavanaugh and with tony roman about the fact you do have isis active on twitter, active on social media, putting out movie trailers to inspire people to come and join. it is attracting people. we had a story earlier today about young women in colorado preparing -- taking money from their parents, preparing to go over there, young men and women from europe and around the world going to syria to fight, inspired by this really sort of sophisticated marketing campaign.

>> very much so pment islamic state reaches out to western audience all the time. as recently as a couple weeks ago the islamic state spokesman incited attacks in the west, lone wolf style attacks. also the islamic state has an english language magazine, very glossy, that specifically talks about, you know, western jihadists coming to the land of jihad or inciting western jihads to incite acts of terrorism at home. this is just one part out of its multifaceted english language machine active on social media and also password protected forums. >> is it a sign this the fight on the ground is not going as well as they thought? isis has not been able to take kobani. there's actually been resistance. the same propaganda that made iraqi fighters essentially not willing to fight them because

they seemed so fearsome, now that doesn't seem to be working and turning against big governments. now they're facing more air power, u.s. air power, canadian air power, could it be they're more desperate and lashing out in the west? >> it's desperate for isis to take over kobani. they've had their workers from raqqa go up to aleppo to engage in the fight. it's an indication u.s. forces are causing deadly losses to the islamic state but they're not essentially weakening the group as a whole. it just appears they're causing heavy losses for them in certain areas. now, you know, we're engaged in asymmetrical warfare. we should expect when we're engaged in that kind of warfare against a terrorist group with international aspirations, we should expect some lone wolf attacks might take place in western countries as a result. >> we should emphasize we don't know if this is the situation in ottawa right now. one suspect is dead.

it's unknown if there are other people involved or unknown if there's direct connections to isis. in general, in the psychology of people who may be susceptible to that kind of propaganda, does it matter if they have any ties to a group like -- >> no, it does not matter. they have to adhere to the ideology and act upon it. that's essentially written in islamic state propaganda that you don't have to be a member of the group, join us on the ground. you can act on behalf of us, act out of inspiration by us, and, you know, obviously we cannot ascertain if this is a terrorist attack on behalf of isis, but we should have our alert level high and be watchful. >> what is the defense against? i mean, canada is a country that has very little gun violence. they have comparatively very few shootings. so something like this really does stand out. what would be the defense against that if it can be individual inspiration? >> well, you know, in the general scheme of things, deradicalization process has to

take place gradually. over time. many, many different individuals have to go online, have to create this counternarrative against isis. so, to prevent one single attack, it might sometimes be impossible just because we cannot, you know, predict that. the unknown unknowns, if you will, but we need to keep our intelligence work at the highest level. and i think intelligence is everything right now. >> and does u.s. national security need to be, obviously, on social media? it needs to get involved in that. >> most certainly. i don't think it has to be from the state department. i think it has to be grass roots organized campaigns that actually are rejecting this ideology, are going on social media and countering that narrative. >> thank you so much for being here. appreciate it. and we will, of course, have ongoing coverage of the shooting that took place in ottawa. i want to thank our other experts, anthony roman and jim cavanaugh. that wraps things up for "the reid report." stay with msnbc and "the cycle" for continuing coverage of the deadly events in ottawa, canada today. an important message for americans eligible

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[ gunshots ] good day. breaking news. leading "the cycle" right now, chaos to the north in canada. as we come on the air, here is what we know as well as the questions that remain. one person is dead after those shootings this morning at the national war memorial and on parliament hill in ottawa. that's canada's version of our capitol hill. police now saying those earlier reports of a shooting at a nearby shopping mall are not true. they're also now clarifying earlier reports of a supposed second shooter telling our jonathan dietz it's too early in this investigation to know if there was more than one gunman. the one that we do know of, however, has been shot and killed. it's now been a full five hours

since the shots killed a canadian soldier and sent two more to the hospital. multiple buildings in downtown ottawa remain on lockdown as we head into midafternoon. those lockdown buildings including our embassy, located in the vicinity of parliament hill. we got our first comments from law enforcement moments ago. >> we are asking members of the public to stay away from the downtown core. people in the downtown core are asked to follow the instructions of their building's management. >> all available and necessary resources were activated and deployed immediately when we became aware of the incident. they will continue to be here for as long as they're needed. >> as a precautionary measure and until such time as the situation is considered under control, military and civil personnel are to remain in their buildings until further notice. >> today is a sad and tragic day for our city and our country. there's no pain greater than losing a loved one. to have